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SOFTBANK CORP.

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Press Releases 2006

Announcement of the Withdrawal of a Lawsuit and the Filing of Another Lawsuit against an Affiliated Company

Jan. 23, 2006

SOFTBANK CORP. (hereinafter “the Company”) announces that the lawsuit covered by its press release dated June 25, 2004, under the title “Announcement of the Service of Complaint” was withdrawn by the plaintiff, MarketXT Holdings Corp. (hereinafter “MarketXT”), as of November 14, 2005, and that another lawsuit was filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, by trustees in the bankruptcy of MarketXT as of December 6, 2005. The amount of damages being sought by the plaintiff in the new lawsuit is in excess of $300 million and it falls under the timely disclosure rules on a consolidated basis. The Company, therefore, presents the following information.

The lawsuit stated below was filed as a counterclaim against the notification of claimable assets (equity interest) in MarketXT under Chapter 11 by SOFTBANK AM CORPORATION (formerly called SOFTBANK FINANCE CORPORATION; head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; representative: Takashi Okubo; hereinafter “SBAM”), the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, and SOFTBANK CONTENTS FUND.

The Company believes that the plaintiff’s claim contradicts the facts and lacks rationality, as before, and SOFTBANK CONTENTS FUND has no reasonable connection to the damages claimed. Therefore the Company deems neither defendant to be legally responsible and assumes that there is no probability of financial loss occurring to the SOFTBANK Group from this lawsuit.

1. Litigants

Plaintiff

  • (1) Trustees in the bankruptcy of MarketXT
  • (2) Creditors committee of MarketXT

Defendant

  • (1) SBAM
  • (2) SOFTBANK INVESTMENT CORPORATION (head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; president & CEO: Yoshitaka Kitao) as managing partner of SOFTBANK CONTENTS FUND

2. Details of the Lawsuit and Amount in Damages Requested

1. Details of Lawsuit

  • (i) Claim for a refund of the money SBAM received as a repayment of loans furnished to MarketXT prior to the bankruptcy of MarketXT

  • (ii) Compensatory claim against damage caused by the alleged breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty on the defendant’s side that allegedly prevented the plaintiff from obtaining important information on E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp. (hereinafter “E*TRADE”) in a transaction in which MarketXT sold its subsidiary to E*TRADE; and,

  • (iii) Compensatory claim against damage associated with the closedown of MarketXT, Inc. (a subsidiary of MarketXT), based on the allegation that the closedown is attributable to the defendant.

2. Amount in Damages Requested

Excess of $300 million

  • *The information is true and accurate at the time of publication.
    Price, specification, contact and other information of products and service may be subjected to change. The information contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements.